A desire to be AU
by Ylla.tenplusnine
Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo ended up wounded from a usual chase between vampires and hunters. This led him to be in the company of the woman he has forever watched from afar, the pureblood vampire, Kuchiki Rukia. Whose desire he should fulfill? His or Her?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia are original characters of Kubo Tite. :

A/N:

This is an AU, with Ichigo and Rukia as vampires. I intended for this fic to be an entry to the Halloween contest in the IchiRuki FC in Bleach Asylum but I wasn't able to beat the deadline. I wanted to make a one-shot but as I began writing it, I realized I couldn't squeeze all the things I want to write in a one-shot. So, in the end, I decided to make this a multi-chapter fic, though this is actually my first time making a multi-chaptered fanfiction. :/

This fic isn't finished yet, and I didn't want to post it unfinished, but I also wanted to post it at least on Halloween. So yeah, here I am posting it on Halloween. This is still unfinished, and I am hoping you can bear with me. :D

**Prologue**

The night was flying. The wind was beating him up so wild, so wild that he can feel his body weaken as he flew along the night. There's a chase. A wild chase, which he was not very fond of; a chase which he was designed to participate into all the time, _in spite of himself_. It was like a game which was designed to play a part of, for his survival. He has lived all his life chasing, for him to survive. And this time, he was involved in another chase. However this time, he was not the chaser. Rather, he was being chased. And like the ones he chased before, he ran for dear life.

The night hunters were chasing him, chasing him as though it was the first time they have ever chased a vampire. Their number was increasing by the minute, and he was growing tired of running. He was running the moment the night fell, and now, the day is almost breaking, and his time could almost be over. He had to be fast, he had to hide fast. If not, he won't survive this chase after all. If the day breaks, it's either he dies in the hands of the hunters, or he dies of the nature's rage. He desperately tried to think straight, and find a place to shelter himself with. He was almost at his limit, and he still didn't want to die. He still has forever to live, if he could repel the rage that the light brings. He was squinting through the darkness of the night, looking for a place to hide, when he felt the sharp pain that seared through his back. But he wasn't impeded. He persisted and continued participating in the chase. It wasn't long when he felt another pain that shocked his right leg, and like before, he went on. After a while, the shot to his leg was followed by another one to his back again. But still, he persisted. He was already laboring his breath, but the pain he felt wasn't something to keep him from moving forward. He had to survive this, he had to. He didn't want to die a pathetic death such as this, and he still had so many things to do in his lifetime that could stretch on forever.

It felt as though he had run a length of a quarter of the globe's circumference, and his mighty legs started to show signs of exhaustion. And the pain brought by the gunpowder, especially designed to kill his kind started to show its effect on his body. He was slowing down, and it wasn't good.

It wasn't long when he felt another shot that hit his left thigh, and it was followed by the incessant hits, and then he stopped counting. He felt his body lighten as he desperately clung to life. He was already unable to think, but he refused to give in. He struggled to keep away from his predators, because his life depended on it. His vision was already black, and he couldn't see a thing. But despite of this, he struggled to move away from the night hunters. He was already crawling through the night, and he didn't know which direction he was tracking. He crawled, and crawled. He felt his remaining strength being snatched away from him; he felt his body as he fell into nothingness. But before he unwillingly succumbed to nothingness, he felt something that violently snatched his body away from the cruelty of the night.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia are original characters of Kubo Tite. :

A/N1:

This is an AU, with Ichigo and Rukia as vampires. I intended for this fic to be an entry to the Halloween contest in the IchiRuki FC in Bleach Asylum but I wasn't able to beat the deadline. I wanted to make a one-shot but as I began writing it, I realized I couldn't squeeze all the things I want to write in a one-shot. So, in the end, I decided to make this a multi-chapter fic, though this is actually my first time making a multi-chaptered fanfiction. :/

This fic isn't finished yet, and I didn't want to post it unfinished, but I also wanted to post it at least on Halloween. So yeah, here I am posting it on Halloween. This is still unfinished, and I am hoping you can bear with me. :D

A/N2:  
While I was writing the chapter, I realized it will give a 'Vampire Knight' feel. I didn't mean it to appear as if it's a VK fic, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't express what I want to write in any other way. But only for this chapter. Chapter 2 will no longer be similar to Vampire Knight. I promise. :p

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**Chapter 1**

He could hear something from afar, it was an indiscernible sound and he couldn't comprehend what it was. It was a sound coming from far, far away. He tried to figure out what it was, or where it was coming from, but his central processing unit wasn't functioning too well. He tried to discern that lone something that he knew existed in the nothingness that he thought he was in. He couldn't feel a thing. He tried to feel his hands, his feet, his whole body, but to no avail. He tried to move, and tried his hardest to discern that single sound that existed. He would cling to it desperately if it was the only thing that could validate his existence, if ever there was. He wasn't sure of anything, anything at all. He didn't know where he was, or what his position was, or if he was still existing. He wanted to open his eyes, he wanted to sharpen his hearing, and he wanted to feel a thing, he wanted to do something, anything just so he could escape from the helplessness that was surfacing from deep within him. It didn't take long when his wish was granted. The first thing that he felt was he was cold, and it took time for him to realize that he was actually chilling. And the next second, he felt the pain burning the whole of his body. He almost wished he could come back to numbness. He was struggling to open his eyes when he felt something move, and it took some time to register that it was just actually inches away from him.

"How long are you gonna stay lazing around like that, stranger?" a strong voice of a woman said.

The voice caught him off-guard. It seemed like a long time ago when he knew of another person's existence. It was enough to bring his senses back to him, and he was finally able to open his eyes. Slowly, he opened his eyes and he was greeted by a pair of lilac eyes. He caught his breath when he realized who owned that pair of beautiful eyes. It was the pair of iridescent eyes that he wished would look into his.

"Ku-Kuchiki Ru-kia?" he voiced groggily. He was so surprised to see her. She was the last person he expected to find him in his current state. He saw the surprise in her eyes as he recognized her, and it took him a while to realize that the person he just addressed doesn't know his existence, that it was the first time she ever saw him. In a vain effort to redeem himself and save his face, he said,

"Kuchiki-dono, what are you doing here? Or rather, what am I doing here? I mean, where am I? What happened to me?" He sequentially asked her, dismissing the pain in his body that was increasing by the minute.

"Who are you, stranger? And why do you know my name?" the woman looking down on him asked him coldly.

He was about to answer her when he was stopped by the sharp pain that burned his throat which stemmed from his heart. It was a physical unendurable pain. Seconds later, he was already clutching his chest, unable to contain the pain. The next second, he felt the overwhelming thirst for blood, and he doesn't think he could appease it in his current situation. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to breathe normally, hoping that the amount of pain he felt wouldn't manifest on his face; and then the woman sitting beside him asked in a worried tone,

"What's happening to you, stranger? Are you alright?"

He wanted to answer her, tell her that he was okay, but he was afraid to open his eyes. He knew that the hunger he was feeling would manifest in his eyes, despite of himself.

Minutes ticked by, his pain and thirst growing by the minute. At this very moment, he cursed the nature of his being, he cursed his innate desire to seek blood, and he cursed his current situation. Of all times, and of all beings, why does the monster in him have to go out of control at this time, and in the presence of this woman? Why her? He has always wished for his existence to be known by this woman, and it never occurred to him that it would be granted, at his worst time.

"I know just what you need stranger. I can help you," Rukia said in a very calm voice that it unnerved him.

Instead of answering, he just concentrated on trying to dismiss the intensifying thirst that he was hopelessly curtailing. He was both feeling hot and cold. He was shivering yet he was also sweating abnormally. He writhed as he laid on wherever he was laying, trying to chase away the inhumane hunger that was winning over him.

"Stop struggling. It will only be aggravated if you keep fighting it. It's in our nature to seek blood, and you know that. And look at you! You're wounded all over your body. You've lost too much blood, and it's impossible for you to recover by yourself," she said.

"N-no… I cannot afford to do what you're suggesting I do. I just can't. N-not you…"

"If I'm getting it right, you know who I am, and that's all the more reason for you to accept my help. And besides, if you haven't realized it yet, we're so close to the enemy's territory. If you don't hurry, they'll know that we're here, and I can't promise if I'd still be able to help you by then."

"Y-you don't understand. Y-you're a pureblood, and I don't think it's right to just drink blood from the likes of you," Ichigo replied strenuously. It was causing him too much just talking like this.

"Don't be stupid. You know you need what I'm offering you. And I am not offering you this for nothing."

That stopped him. He looked at her questioningly, unable to wait for the condition of this offered help.

"You have to help me get what I am trying to get from the humans," she related steadily, her voice full of confidence.

He frowned, and he searched her eyes as she brushed away the hair that was covering one side of her neck.

"Here. If you don't do it now, you'll die."

At the sight of her exposed neck, as he saw the throbbing of the rushing blood in her veins, a monstrous greed took over him, and he wasn't able to think when he violently sat up and gathered her in his arms. He sank his fangs on the open and inviting vein that ran through the length of her pale white neck.

He could feel the rush of blood as he fed from her enchantingly delicious blood. Her blood and the essence of her being the rarest of their kind, makes him want to forget who she was or who he was. He just wants to bask in the delight that this seemingly unforgivable act brings. She moaned softly, causing him to want to drink from her even more. But his mind was already beginning to clear, and it was a cue for him to stop what he was doing.

He reluctantly withdrew from her neck, licking the traces of blood that trickled on the expanse of her neck. He didn't want to waste even a drop of it. He began to sit up straight. As he sat in front of her, he was unable to look straight into her eyes. Now that his head is cleared, he was ashamed of himself for committing what he has just committed, and he felt sinful for doing it. And he felt even more sinful because he still wanted more. He wanted and desired to drink all of her blood even to the last drop, and he cursed himself for that. He didn't have the right, in fact, he didn't have the right to even desire it. This is Kuchiki Rukia for crying out loud!

"How are you feeling now, stranger?" She said feebly, also breathing heavily.

He felt like the worst as he saw the effects of what he did. Never mind that all the pain that he previously felt seemed to vanish in an instant after drinking from her.

"I'm okay, thanks to you." He gathered all his might to talk normally in front of this woman. He didn't want to sound like a loser, even if he really was. "And by the way, my name is Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Alright Ichigo. Since you're feeling okay now, I think it's time for you to realize that we are in a very dangerous place, and I can feel the enemy fast approaching. We have to get away from here."

"Wait. What do you need my help for?" Ichigo asked.

"That could wait. Let's get out of here first. Quickly."

He looked around him. They were in a forest, and from what he's getting, they were on the border of the hunters' headquarters, which means that he had to comply with what the woman with him is suggesting. His sense of guilt could wait. For now.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Two shadows moving stealthily through the darkness that impregnated an ominous forest, strong winds beating their fleeing bodies, heavy cloaks against the winds.

Kurosaki Ichigo was fleeing through the darkness with the woman he has forever watched from afar, the woman whose existence is a myth to most humans, and even to vampires. She was the only remaining vampire whose blood isn't spoiled with foreign blood. In short, she was the only living pureblood. In their present time, most of the vampires believed the extinction of this rare breed of them, but there was a few of them who had the privilege to possess the knowledge of her existence. And he was one of those privileged ones. He was one of the very few ones who were aware of how the sole pureblood on earth looked.

Purebloods. These are the rarest of the vampires. Their existence traced back from the distant past. They are the ones who had the ability to live forever, close to being immortals. But for some reasons known only to them, their small number died one by one through time. They lived through different lifetimes, and they had the ability to live for another set of lifetimes, but most of them chose not to. Vampires in general age slowly, but purebloods age even slower. So slow that a year to a vampire would seem like a minute to a pureblood. They lead a very, very long life.

He glanced to the pureblood running through the night beside him. She was clad in a black cloak, with the hood on her small head. She was enigmatic in his point of view. She was looking ahead, and she seemed to be just dancing with the wind as they ran. And she was beautiful. But then, he has always known that. He happened to belong to a group whose purpose is to record the lives of the purebloods, the lives of those whose existence is a taboo to most of them. This is why even their job isn't known to everybody. A job bequeathed to only one in each generation. And in this generation, he owned that job.

He has always looked up to her since the day his father acquainted him with Kuchiki Rukia's existence. He was so young when he first saw her. And now, she still looked the same. Exactly the same. He admired her as a child, he admired her from afar, and now that she's so close, he didn't know just what to feel. He was overwhelmed with a strange feeling that even the peril of their current situation couldn't curtail.

He threw her a few glances every now and then, as they continued to flee. She had a very tranquil face, a face that wouldn't be thought as that of a vampire's. She looked very frail, which he knew was so much in contrast with what she is capable of. He knew the strength she possessed, which was hidden in her deceptive frail body. She had a very small stature; she could be mistaken for a regular adolescent even, except that she is anything but regular. Anyone who encounters her would know that there's something different in her. She exudes a very mysterious air, which wouldn't be taken lightly.

"Hey, Ichigo. How long are you gonna watch me, huh?" He was taken aback. He didn't know this side of her. "If I'm right, I think you're the one that records my every move in this generation. That's the only reason I know why you knew I am a pureblood. Isn't that enough reason for us to hurry even more? The sun is almost rising. If you are indeed of the bloodline that is tied with our existence, then you can burn in the sun. Now, stop staring at me and hurry up."

The years of watching her didn't let him know of this side of her, this bluntness. But well, he rarely saw her talk in the years that he watched her. But then, she didn't have anyone to talk to most of the time. For some reason, she lived her life in seclusion, rarely getting in contact with other vampires.

He averted his gaze from her and casted his eyes instead on the darkness that was ahead of them.

"Right. Turn right. Hurry." She commanded him through the raging pre-dawn.

His sense of direction is telling him that they were headed to where Rukia lives. He could already see the east beginning to reveal the first light of the day; and it wasn't the right time for him to question her, so he just followed what she directed.

It wasn't long before they were in front of an enormous, intimidating, dark castle on top of a mountain. It was located at the very edge of another ominous forest. He has already lost count of the forests that they've passed through. And he has long forgotten about the hunters that were supposed to be chasing them through the night. The mighty castle stood impressively on the mountain, looking down at the vast expanse of forest that was below it.

They ran towards the castle, as they raced with the rising sun. It didn't take them long before they were sheltered by the eerie darkness that was enveloping the whole castle. Ichigo looked around him, and he felt the heavy air; he felt strange, even as a vampire.

"You should be safe from the sun here, Ichigo. Make yourself comfortable," Rukia stated as she began to climb the grand staircase that was just before the front door.

"Wait a second. I think we have to talk."

"Can't it wait? My night has been long, and I want to rest."

"Well, if you may excuse my rudeness, I want to at least know why I am here."

He saw her sigh before she answered,

"You're stubborn, aren't you? It could wait. And you should rest too. You need it more than I do. And the sun is already rising; you know better than anyone that you have to avoid it more than anything. So, if you may excuse my insistence, I want to rest. You do, too." She was beginning to turn her back on him when she remembered something. "By the way, my chamber is the one at the far end here, you can choose any chamber but that," she said pointing to the landing of the right wing of the grand staircase.

He just stood at the foot of the stairs, watching her retreating back. Despite of him, he knew that she was right. They could talk later, and it seemed like she would allow him to ask her anything. He sighed as he began to climb the stairs. He didn't know what got to him but he took the right wing of the stairs, leading to the room that Rukia indicated. He stopped in front of the door of the room that was directly adjacent to the room at the far end of the hall. He chose the room that was adjacent to her room. He wasn't sure why he did that. Well, maybe, just maybe, it was because of this protective instinct that Rukia awakened inside of him. Yes, he wanted to protect her. Perhaps, he has long wanted to do that. But Rukia didn't know him before, so he didn't get the chance to do it. And now that she already does, he would want to protect her, especially that she mentioned that she would be needing his help. For what, he didn't know. But whatever it is, he would surely help her. Even if it wasn't a condition to her helping him.

He turned the knob of the heavy oak door and he pushed it to enter. A wide, old-fashioned room greeted him, which was illuminated only by a single candle that stood on a bureau that was directly opposite the king size bed. The bed looked very inviting; and just then, he felt the exhaustion that resulted from his escapade. He headed towards the bed, and he allowed his weary body to finally rest. He stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out what does a powerful pureblood need his help for. And more than that, he was trying to convince himself that he indeed had a journey with Kuchiki Rukia. That he had drank from her pure blood. The shame that he previously felt began emerging again. He had to find a way to live with that fact, and he wanted to overcome that shame. And besides that, he felt guilty for feeling happy about the adventure with Rukia, regardless of the nature of that adventure, and all the perils that came with it. It was hard for him to believe that it was true. He had a lot of questions on his mind, but like Rukia said, they could wait. For now, he had to give in to the weariness that was slowly dragging him to sleep. He closed his eyes, and it wasn't long before his breathing deepened as he plunged deeper into his slumber.


End file.
